An award-winning journalist and boxing aficionado recounts the story of the infamous 1995 bout between Britain's Nigel Benn and American Gerald McClellan that led to a reassessment of the sport as entertainment and of the procedures by which it is regulated.

War, Baby: The Glamour of Violence

Sports & Outdoors

Mitchell, Kevin

Individual Sports

Yellow Jersey

Winner of the William Hill sports book of the year. 'Lance Armstrong's story is the stuff of legends' Independent. 'Having nearly lost his life Lance Armstrong serves up his story for the rest of the world to wonder at, shudder at and learn from' Guardian. 'I want to die at a hundred years old after screaming down an Alpine descent on a bicycle at 75 miles per hour. I don't do anything slow, not even breathe. I do everything at a fast cadence: eat fast, sleep fast.' At twenty-four, Lance Armstrong was already well on his way to becoming a sporting legend. Then, in October 1996, he was diagnosed with stage four testicular cancer - doctors gave him a 40% chance of survival. On that day Armstrong's life changed for ever and in typical fashion, he met the challenge head on - this was one fight he was determined not to lose. As he battled against the cancer invading his body and the chemotherapy that threatened to sap his soul, he focussed on his training and drew strength from the people around him who never gave up. Just sixteen months after Armstrong was discharged from hospital, he entered the Tour de France, a race famed for its gruelling intensity, and won, in the fastest ever time. Just a few months after that, he became a father. It's Not About the Bike is the story of one man's inspirational battle against the odds, charting his progress through triumph, tragedy and transformation. This is an awe-inspiring tale of immense courage and will.

It's Not About the Bike : My Journey Back to Life

Armstrong, Lance

Biographies & Memoirs

Who needs football? A little over 10 years ago the Japanese decided they did. After treating it as an irrelevant sport for over 100 years they launched a national project aimed at enrolling themselves as one of the world's football powers. In true Japanese style, they were determined to get everything right and money was the least of their problems. When the professional J.League was set up in 1993, it was hyped and financed by some of the country's most high-profile organisations, while world stars such as Zico and Gary Lineker added colour. Foreign coaches from Arsene Wenger to Ossie Ardiles were brought in to pass on their experience, and Japanese players wanting greater immersion headed for Europe and South America to learn for themselves. Even the fans studied, scrutinising the crowds in satellite TV broadcasts to learn the best way to support their teams. But, Japan didn't just want a new professional sports league to provide entertainment. Football was a way to change the country itself, to make it more like what the Japanese call the world - the world outside Japan. Football would make the Japanese internationally-minded, creative, expressive - everything they were not, b

Japanese Rules: Why the Japanese Needed Football and How They Got It

sebastian-moffett

In 14 beautifully crafted nonfiction stories, the author takes readers fly-fishing around the world, from Canadian forests to upland Croatia, from Scottish islands to London suburbs, always journeying into the heart of the landscape to meet ordinary, extraordinary people. This darkly humorous collection is destined to become, like Thomas McGuane’s The Longest Silence, a classic of the genre.

Somewhere Else

Rangeley-Wilson, Charles

Hunting & Fishing

Football is at the heart of British culture - yet never has it been in greater turmoil. Once, football stood for passion, community, honour, even beauty. The game is in danger of losing its lifeblood - and its soul. In The Beautiful Game? David Conn, the game's most respected investigative journalist, sets out on a journey through the heart of our national game, exploring how the sport has failed - and who is to blame. This is a book for those who keep the faith, who believe that the sport itself, stripped of the greed and self-interest blighting its organisation, still has values, and can still be beautiful. 'For a fascinating insight into the causes, and the creators, of the game's ills this is a superbly told tale' Independent

The Beautiful Game?: Searching for the Soul of Football. David Conn

Conn, Consultant Anaesthetist David

In 1999, Lance Armstrong made world headlines with the most stunning comeback in the history of sport, winning the Tour de France in the fastest ever time after battling against life-threatening testicular cancer just eighteen months previously. His first book, It's Not About the Bike, charted his journey back to life and went on to become an international bestseller, and won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2000. Now, in his much-anticipated follow-up, Armstrong shares more details of his extraordinary life story, including a remarkable four more Tour de France wins, an Olympic medal, and the births of his twin daughters Grace and Isabel. Never shy of controversy, Armstrong offers, with typical frankness, his thoughts on training, competing, winning and failure. He also tells of the work he does for the foundation he created following his dramatic recovery, addresses the daunting challenge of living in the aftermath of cancer and treatment, and shares further inspirational tales of survival. A fresh outlook on the spirit of survivors everywhere, Every Second Counts is an awe-inspiring book by a man who strives every day to meet life's challenges - whether on his bike or off.

Every Second Counts

JENKINS, SALLY

A remarkable biography of one of history's greatest cyclists—a man who lived a tumultous life, and was voted the most popular Italian sportsman of the 20th century Fausto Angelo Coppi was the campionissimo, or champion of champions, and this is the tragic story of his life and death, and how a man who became the symbol of a nation's rebirth after the disasters of war died reviled and heartbroken. The greatest cyclist of the immediate post-war years, he was the first man to win cycling's great double, the Tour de France and Tour of Italy, in the same year—and he did it twice. He achieved mythical status for his crushing solo victories, world titles and world records. But his significance extends far beyond his sport. Coppi's scandalous divorce and controversial early death convulsed a conservative, staunchly Roman Catholic Italy in the 1950s. At a time when adultery was still illegal, Coppi and his lover were dragged from their bed in the middle of the night, excommunicated, and forced to face a clamorous legal battle, the ramifications of which are still being felt today. Told with insight and intelligence, this is a unique portrait of Italy and Italian sport at a time of tumultuous change.

Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi (Yellow Jersey Cycling Classics)

Fotheringham, William

Biographies

All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora

David Rensin

Friday Night Lights : A Town@@ a Team and a Dream

History

H. G. Bissinger

Americas

Bill 'EL Wingador' Simmons, Sonya 'The Black Widow' Thomas, David 'Coondog' O'Karma, Eric 'Badlands' Booker, and Timothy 'Eater X' Janus are just a few of the stars of one of America's fastest growing sports: competitive eating. In a country in which a third of the population is clinically obese, competitive eating has made the leap from trestle tables and paper napkins to stadium arenas - in the past two years, more than 1.4 million households have tuned in to Nathan's hot dog contest on ESPN. Beginning with a trip to Japan in search of the elusive (and surprising slim-line) champion Takeru Kobayashi and ending up at the sport's annual grand finale in Coney Island, Jason Fagone spends a year with the stars of the scene, watching as they eat their way into (or out of) oblivion, and finding out just what compels a 'gurgitator' to force down forty-six dozen oysters in ten minutes. Wickedly funny and devastatingly insightful, Jason Fagone uses this weirdest of sports as a lens through which to examine the dark side of the American Dream - the never-ending quest for wealth, celebrity, possessions and food. And along the way, he uncovers the wonderfully human stories at the heart of this seemingly unnourished corner of American culture. Bigger, better, richer, fatter, "Insatiable" unlocks a world we all need to face up to.

Insatiable: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream

Jason Fagone

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Yellow Jersey publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Yellow Jersey